Christmas is the festival of love and kindness. The festival that is otherwise celebrated with loved ones while exchanging stories and gifts, maybe a bit bleak because of losses that we have suffered this year in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is important to count our blessings this year, and recognize that there may be many out there who might be faring much worse than us.
COVID-19 pandemic wrecked the lives of millions of people this year. Many may have lost their loved ones to the disease and many others may be suffering from the loss of work and means of income. On top of this, the harsh winters will only be adding to the misery of people living on streets or in slums. There might be many elderly people living alone and in need of help, with their families unable to visit them because of travel restrictions amid pandemic.
This Christmas may not allow us to have a traditional celebration with all family under a roof, but it can be made cheerful by bringing joy to the lives of others who are less privileged. This Christmas, perform these random acts of kindness and spread the joy of the festival.
1. Organise a Christmas feast, or donate to organizations that host such feasts
2020 has not been the best year for anyone. However, it has been particularly bad for the poor sections of the society. While the organizations and the government is working hard towards ensuring that no one goes hungry at this time because of lack of resources, there are many people who are unable to reach to these benefits. This Christmas, try and organize a great Christmas feast for them, so they can have a chance to celebrate the festival. If you are not able to do that, contribute to organizations who provide meals for poor, so that they can serve an elaborate Christmas feast to the underprivileged this year.
2. Check on your elderly/sick neighbours
COVID-19 is a very lonely disease. The quarantine and isolation cause a lot of mental distress to people who are infected by it. The safety and preventive measures to be followed by the elderly, as they are among the most vulnerable populations to the virus, leaves them helpless and alone within their homes. This Christmas, carry a bag of festival goodies, baked treats or some random gifts to your sick or elderly neighbours and check up on them if they needed anything else. Just the gesture will make their day and bring about the cheer for the festival.
3. Donate warm Clothing and Socks to Homeless
The chill of the winter will not allow a restful time for the homeless people. This Christmas, donate some warm clothing and socks to the people living on the streets. This will shelter them from the weather and allow them to stay healthy amid the pandemic.
4. Donate toys to poor children
The children from poor families are often deprived of simple joys of toys. When we think of donating anything to them, it is mostly items of necessity or use. If they are given toys, they are usually hand-me-downs with poor longevity. They are often judged to be ungrateful and spoilt for wanting to indulge sometimes in things like toys. This is very unfair to them, as we too tend to splurge on ourselves during festivals or birthdays, even at the cost of some necessities.
This Christmas, surprise these poor kids by acting as their Santa Claus and gifting them some toys that they can indulge with.
5. Give business to Street-food Vendors
The street food vendors were hit very hard because of COVID-19 lockdown. They are still trying to recover from the blow that they were dealt. With their food-carts being the only source of their income, they have struggled to make ends meet. This Christmas, after ensuring the safety and hygiene measures, give them business by eating from their carts or hosting meal-giveaways with them, so they can also celebrate Christmas with joy and cheer.
This Christmas may surely not be the best. But salvage it from being the worst by making it better for people around you, through random acts of kindness.
